The Colorado Avalanche will start their Stanley Cup defense on Wednesday opening the 2022-23 NHL season on home ice against the Chicago Blackhawks.
Bookmaker BetOnline believes that Colorado will start the season with a bang and has the goals total for the hosts set at 4.5. The odds for the over are at +110 and for the under at -140.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: October 12th, 7:30 A.M. (EST)
The road toward a potential repeat starts for the Avalanche without their captain Gabriel Landeskog. The Swedish forward has been ruled out for the start of the season with a lower-body injury. Depth center Darren Helm will also miss Wednesday’s action.
Being without Landeskog is a blow for Colorado, but the team also finished off last year’s regular season without him and did just fine. There’s just so much quality in the squad that there’s always somebody else ready to step up. Artturi Lehkonen looks set to start the season on the top line in Landeskog’s place.
Notable absentees from last season’s cup triumph are also Nazem Kadri, Andre Burakovsky and Darcy Kuemper, who all left the team during free agency. Kuemper’s spot between the pipes has been taken over by former Rangers goalie Alexandar Georgiev, who is looking to establish himself as a No. 1 option in the league.
The offense has lost a few pieces, but Nathan MacKinnon is still there and he’s fully expected to play on Wednesday despite tweaking something in practice last week. MacKinnon signed a huge $100 million deal in the summer that will see him becoming the highest-paid player in the NHL this season and beyond. This definitely adds some extra pressure on his shoulder, but knowing his mentality, we should see MacKinnon thrive under it.
The Blackhawks, who missed the postseason for the fourth time in five seasons last year have done some retooling over the summer, but they will still be carried by the duo of Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews.
Both of Chicago’s stars have been a nightmare to play against for Colorado through the years. Kane is on a two-game multi-point streak in the match-up and has notched a franchise-leading 53 career points against Colorado while Toews boasts a team-record 23 goals against the Avalanche and has picked up 51 points in 52 career appearances against them.
Chicago will try to end a four-game losing run in the head-to-head meetings. Colorado crushed most sides last season and they beat Chicago in the regular season with a combined score of 16-9. The Blackhawks have also dropped four of their last five trips to Denver.
